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Cloud Drive: FAQs

FAQ

How are my files encrypted?

For technically savvy users, here are some details on how your files are encrypted.

Files are encrypted prior to uploading them using 256-bit AES. AES is an industry (and government) standard and is one of the most well studied and most secure encryption algorithms available. Jungle Disk uses a unique key for each file, and constructs the key using a HMAC that helps protect against certain attacks. Code that demonstrates how data is encrypted/decrypted is available for download on the Jungle Disk Download page under the GPL license. A special metadata header is added to each file when it is uploaded. The header identifies the type of encryption used and contains a salt value and a one-way hash of the salted key. This allows Jungle Disk to determine the correct key to use to decrypt the file. Note: Without the decryption keys, the header is of no use, and you cannot even tell which files are encrypted with which keys unless you possess the keys.

What is the Network Drive Cache?

The cache directory is where files are stored during background upload and after upload for quick access should you need to open the file from the network drive. You may want to change the default location of the cache directory to a different drive with more space available for example, as a large cache reduces the need to re-download content. If your cache fills up during a large upload, you may notice that background uploads from the operating system to the cache slow significantly (to 32kbps or less). This is normal, and as space is freed in the cache from completed uploads, the cache upload will return to normal speed.

The default location for the cache for each platform is listed below. You can change the cache size in the Network Drive settings.

The default location of the configuration file varies by platform. Jungle Disk will also attempt to load the configuration file out of the application directory (if present). This allows you to install multiple copies with different configurations if needed. The configuration file will be an .xml file.

Sometimes the backup time estimates seem like a surprisingly long amount of time - hours, days, or even weeks. This article will help explain possible reasons for the long backup time and steps you can take to reduce it if needed.

Reasons for long backup time estimates

This is your first backup - Your initial backup will take much longer than later backups, since only new or changed files will be uploaded in later backups. If you are backing up a large library of music, pictures, or videos, your first backup may take several hours or days. Don't worry! Your later backups will likely only take a few minutes based on the amount of new and changed files.

Slow upload speeds - Most Internet connections (Cable, DSL, etc.) are designed to have a much lower upload speed than your advertised download speeds. For example, a typical cable Internet connection advertised at 5Mbps will likely only have an upload speed of 512-768Kbps, and backups occur at the slower upload rate. The good news is that if you ever need to restore your files, it will be much faster—usually 10 times faster than your backup! You can test your actual upload and download rates by visiting: http://www.speedtest.net

Backing up too much data - While your first instinct may be that you want to back up your entire hard drive, that is typically not the best option for online backup. Much of the data on your hard drive is operating system and application files that can easily be re-installed from CD if your computer were to crash. Backing up this extra data will simply cause your backups to take longer and result in higher storage costs. Instead, you should focus on backing up your irreplaceable files—your documents, photos, music, movies, and program data that cannot simply be reinstalled if lost.

Lots of small files - Because there is a fixed time overhead required to back up each individual file, if you are backing up large amounts of small files, it will take longer than a smaller number of big files. You may only be able to achieve a fraction of your maximum upload rate if you are primarily backing up small files. While your initial upload may take much longer, later uploads should still be relatively fast as only the new or changed files will be uploaded.

Exceeding the network drive cache size - This only applies if you are manually uploading data via the network drive, not if you are using the automatic backup feature. When using the network drive, data is initially copied into a local cache then uploaded to your online disk. If the local cache fills up, the incoming file data from the operating system will slow down until space can be freed in the cache by uploading data over the network. This isn't slowing down your actual upload, but you may see a slow transfer rate for data being copied into the cache. The default cache size is 1GB and can be adjusted in the Network Drive settings.

Steps to reduce the impact of long backups

If you have a backup that is going to take several hours or days to complete, there are several steps you can take to reduce the impact of using your entire upload bandwidth during that time.

Enable Bandwidth Limiting - The bandwidth limiting option in the Configuration dialog allows you to control bandwidth. You can even set a time period to enforce the bandwidth limit. While setting a bandwidth limit may actually increase your backup time, it can reduce the impact it has on other network activity like web browsing and downloads.

Automatically stop the backup after a period of time - Under the backup Schedule settings, you can automatically stop the backup if it runs over a certain number of hours. The backup will start again where it left off at the next scheduled time. This can allow you to run your initial backup over several nights, while having it automatically stop before you start using the computer in the morning.

Exit the Activity Monitor application - On Windows and Mac, your backup will continue in the background. You can always restart the monitor to see where you are or if there were any errors, but sometimes it is best to leave it "out of sight" until the initial backup is over.

Estimating backup times - It is sometimes surprising how long it takes for an initial backup. Note: Transfer rates are in kbps (kilobits per second) not kilobytes. Here is an example of a typical backup:

Cloud Drive

What do I do if I am moving to a new computer, and/or need to export configuration?

Export the backup jobs, and import them into the new client.

Why am I having an unexpected increase in download bandwidth?

It is important to understand that when using some anti-virus software, you will want to make sure the network drive is excluded from your list of scanned drives. When a virus scanner checks files on a network drive, it must download the file and look in the contents for signs of infection and as such, can result in increased download bandwidth. The following are some basic steps to prevent scanning of the network drive in some of the most common anti-virus applications. The actual steps may vary slightly between various versions of these applications.

McAfee (Using SecurityCenter-9.11, VirusScan-13.11)

Quick Scan - Does not attempt to scan the network drives.

Scan - (By selecting Let me choose), the network drives are listed under 'My Computer' along with each other drive on the computer. To not have these files scanned, the network drive must be unchecked before running the scan.

Custom Scan - Scans every file on every drive, including cd drives and mounted network drives. The only way to exclude these but to still scan everything else is to do the custom scan and leave everything checked except the online disks.

Norton / Symantec (Using Norton 2010)

Quick Scan - Only scans the local essential files, such as files needed to boot.

Full Scan - Scans everything on the computer, including floppy, cd, and network drives.

Custom Scan - From here you can choose to scan the entire system (which will scan network drives), drives, folders, or individual files. This is where you will deselect the network drive.

To schedule a scan that will scan everything except the network drives, go to the scheduler (Scan Now -> Custom Scan) and select Create Custom Scan (the button on the bottom). Click Add Folders and select every drive except for the network drive. After creating a scan name, the scan will appear on the list of custom scans to choose from, and you may click Schedule to set up a time for the scan to run.

Eset NOD32 (Using Antivirus 4)

Smart Scan - Only scans the local disk (aka, C:\ )

Custom Scan Offers three options: Removable media (Floppy and CD drives), Local Drives, and Network Drives (Anything mounted as a network drive - this includes the Jungle Disk network drive).

After choosing a category, you can then select or deselect additional drives. To be sure that the mounted drives are not scanned, simply ensure that they are not checked before beginning the scan.To schedule a full scan without having to scan the network drives, go to Tools -> Scheduler -> Add. Choose On-demand computer scan, and when selecting drives, make sure the network drives are unchecked.

Note: Users of ESET NOD32 may also experience Windows explorer locking up or backups that do not complete. In certain situations, Windows explorer has been known to lock up when the NOD32 virus scanner is installed and configured to scan network drives. This appears to be a problem with the NOD32 software but can be worked around by disabling scanning of network drives.

1. Click Setup from within NOD32 and then enter in the entire advanced setup tree.2. Select Antivirus and antispyware -> Real-time system protection from the tree.3. Uncheck Network drives in the Media to scan group and select OK.

Kaspersky (Internet Security 2009 version: 8.0.0.506)

Quick Scan - Does not scan the network drive unless specifically set to do so.

Scan - Network drives do not show up by default and will not be scanned unless added with Add new item.

Full Scan - If everything is checked, then the network drive will be scanned. In order to not scan it, clear the All network drives check box (default is off). If desired, it is also possible to only scan individual network drives by clicking Add new item.

To schedule a scan without network drives go to Scan -> Run mode and click Manually. Set the time desired for it to run and click OK. Make sure that the All network drives check box is cleared.

Note: Users of Kaspersky may experience additional issues. Kaspersky Internet Security contains a web anti-virus feature that scans HTTP traffic and that appears to interfere with file transfer. To resolve this issue, set the Kaspersky Internet Security Web Anti-Virus feature to use Streaming scan (limited signature) method of traffic scanning.

1. In Kaspersky, at the top right, select SETTINGS.2. Next, under OPTIONS, select THREATS AND EXCLUSIONS and then selectthe TRUSTED ZONE button.3. At the top, select the TRUSTED APPLICATIONS tab followed by the ADD button.4. Select APPLICATIONS, JungleDiskMonitor.exe and check all 3 exclusions.

What do I do if I receive errors when attempting to back up Outlook .OST files?

If errors are received when attempting to backup Outlook OST files in Windows Vista, the issue is likely the fact that Windows Vista Volume Shadow Copies do not include Outlook OST files. The following is Microsoft's explanation of this design decision:

"Maintaining changes to .ost files within shadow copies is expensive in terms of space and I/O activity. The performance impact doesn’t occur during the image backup itself--the only extra work at backup time is backing up the .ost file as part of the image. Instead, the performance impact occurs during the ongoing, everyday I/O to the .ost file when Outlook is running. If the .ost changes were kept in shadow copies, then every time Outlook writes to the .ost file, the result is a copy-on-write I/O hit (2 writes, 1 read). Although we have worked to reduce the impact of copy-on-writes on shadow copies, a heavily churned file like an .ost file could still cause problems. For these reasons, and the fact that .ost files can be regenerated, we chose to delete .ost files from the shadow copy before the image is created."

Even if the performance issues didn’t exist, there are situations where Exchange will, after an .ost is restored, detect a future version of the .ost file and force you to delete and then regenerate the local .ost file. Therefore, it’s still preferable to regenerate an .ost file instead of restoring it. Hence, OST files cannot be copied as "in use" files because they are not a component of VSS Volume Shadow Copies in Windows Vista. As such, it is recommended that OST files NOT be included as part of a backup configuration due to this issue and also based on the fact that Exchange automatically regenerates OST files as needed.

What do I do if I receive Mac OSX (-36) error?

This is a very common issue on a Mac. When this happens, have the user do a backup job, rather than dragging and dropping. The issue is related to the WebDav stack in Mac OSX. Typically you can just drag less data to the network drive and this will sometimes circumvent this issue.